Offshore is a different game. Out wide it’s marlin, tuna, mahi mahi, wahoo and kingfish — fast, powerful pelagics that hunt over huge areas and home in on commotion. You don’t cast to them so much as drag a spread of lures through likely water and let the fish find it. Get your lure choice, spread and speed right and the ocean comes alive. Here are the best marlin and offshore trolling lures for Australian bluewater, how to run them, and the gear to back them up.
How pelagics hunt (and why it dictates your lures)
Marlin, tuna and the rest are visual, high-speed predators that chase schooling baitfish across open water. They’re pulled in by splash, bubble trail, flash and vibration — the look of a fleeing or wounded baitfish, or a panicked school. That’s why trolling works: a well-set spread of skirts and minnows behind a boat mimics exactly that, and the prop wash and teasers add to the illusion. Lure choice is really about matching the size and speed of the bait that’s around, and creating the right amount of commotion for the conditions.
1. Skirted trolling lures — the bluewater staple
For black, blue and striped marlin, a conventional skirted trolling lure is hard to beat — it’s been the go-to billfish lure for decades. The soft skirt pulses, the head shape pushes water and traps air for a bubble trail, and the whole thing swims, smokes and pops behind the boat to draw a strike.
- Head shapes: chuggers/pushers (flat or cupped face) make the most smoke and commotion — ideal up close and in rough water; bullets and sliced heads swim cleaner and run truer at speed and in the long positions.
- Size: 10–14 inch lures for marlin; smaller skirts for tuna, mahi and wahoo. Match the bait where you can.
- How to fish them: rig with quality hooks, set them so each lure is swimming (not skipping uncontrollably or drowned) on the face of a wave, and troll at 7–9 knots — around 7–8 for black marlin, 8–9 for blues.
Back a local maker: Reel Action Lures specialise in exactly this — skirted trolling lures built for marlin, sailfish, tuna, wahoo and mahi mahi, with custom colour runs. If you want to fill the spread with lures from a brand that lives and breathes offshore trolling, they’re worth a look.
2. Bibless minnows & hard-bodied trollers
Hard-bodied trolling minnows are deadly on smaller black marlin, sailfish, wahoo, mackerel and tuna — and they’re more beginner-friendly than skirts because they swim themselves. A classic like the Halco Laser Pro 190 is a benchmark and accounts for stacks of wahoo and reef-edge black marlin.
- Rigging tip: the standard treble setup gives a poor hook-up on billfish — swap to multiple split rings and strong single hooks for far better conversion and easier release.
- How to fish them: run them at the troll speed the lure is rated for (most swim true 4–8 knots); use them in the spread alongside skirts, or on their own over reef edges and bait.
3. Stickbaits & poppers — when you cast instead of troll
Not all offshore fishing is trolling. When you find surface-busting tuna, kingfish holding on structure, or giant trevally smashing bait, casting stickbaits and poppers into the chaos is the most exciting fishing there is.
- Stickbaits (sinking and floating) for tuna and kings — long casts, sweeping rod work to dart them.
- Poppers for GTs and surface tuna — big bloops that call fish up from deep. There’s more in our look at GTs and surface chaos.
4. Setting the spread
The lures only work if they’re positioned right. A simple, proven marlin spread is a V-shape of four lures staggered behind the boat so they swim in clean water on the faces of the prop-wash waves:
- Short corners (closest): a heavy, water-pushing lure that digs in and makes commotion.
- Long riggers (wider, further back): cleaner-swimming bullets/sliced heads.
- Shotgun (~80 m straight back): a smaller minnow or skirt — often picks up tuna, wahoo and sailfish as well as marlin.
- Teasers (hookless) up close to raise fish into the spread.
5. Colour selection
Offshore colour lore runs deep, but a few reliable rules:
- Bright day, blue water: classics like pink/white, blue/white, lumo and natural baitfish tones.
- Low light / overcast / dirty water: dark — black/purple, black/red — which silhouette best.
- “Match the hatch”: if they’re on small bait, drop lure size before you fuss over colour.
6. Gear & rigging
This is heavy tackle. For marlin, a 15–37 kg overhead game outfit with a quality lever-drag reel and plenty of line is standard; tuna, mahi and wahoo can be tackled lighter. Run heavy mono or fluorocarbon leader (or single-strand/cable wire where wahoo and mackerel teeth are a factor), quality hooks, and check your drag with a scale. Circle hooks are strongly preferred for billfish — they pin in the jaw corner, dramatically improving survival on release. Set the gear up before you leave the ramp; offshore is no place to be re-rigging in a hurry.
7. Where and when to find them
Look for the signs, not just the spot: current lines and temperature breaks, bait schools, working birds, floating debris and weed lines (mahi mahi love structure and FADs). Run your spread along these features and through bait. Seasons vary by region — the marlin run shifts up and down the east coast through the warmer months, and northern waters fire at different times again — so check what’s on locally. For the feel of a proper offshore session, read Big Baits, Big Bills.
Look after the big ones
Billfish are a tag-and-release fishery for good reason — they’re slow to mature and worth far more swimming than on the deck. Use circle hooks, keep the fish in the water, leader it carefully, remove the hook or cut the leader close, and revive it boat-side (move it forward so water flows over the gills) until it swims off strongly. Tuna and mahi for the table are fine — just take what you’ll use, bleed and ice them immediately, and check your local bag and size limits.
Wear the Bill
Chasing billfish is the pinnacle of Australian sportfishing, and The Bill is the cap for the cockpit — embroidered marlin artwork on a breathable mesh-back trucker built for long days in the sun and spray. Chasing the rest of the spread? There’s The Bull (mahi mahi), The YFT (yellowfin), The GT and The Kingy. See the full Salties range, or browse every species in the Outfished fishing hats lineup.
Sources & disclaimer
General information only. Lure choice, spread design and technique are personal and conditions vary — treat the above as a proven starting point, not gospel. Bag and size limits and billfish handling rules differ between states and change over time; always check your local fisheries rules. Brand names are mentioned for reference only.
Further reading (accessed June 2026):